NEW YORK – Chris Sale has become the cheap ace of the Atlanta Braves.
He was a Major League Baseball All-Star for seven consecutive seasons (2012–18), but won only 17 games over the next five years and was traded from the Boston Red Sox to Atlanta last winter along with $17 million that covered most of his salary.
After being sold at a bargain price, as if he had been marked down at an outlet store, Sale joins pitchers Seth Lugo of the Kansas City Royals and Ranger Suárez of the Philadelphia Phillies as the only people to have won 10 games so far this MLB season, coming in the Braves’ 8-1 victory over the New York Yankees on Friday night.
“I think he’s back to where he was,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said.
Atlanta improved its overall record to 42-31 and won for the seventh time in eight games after a five-game losing streak.
“Just like we didn’t worry when things weren’t going well, we’re not going to sit here and have a party when things are going well,” Sale said. “You just have to stay consistent, stay on the ball and do your part.”
At 35, the left-hander is 10-2 with a 2.91 ERA, has 107 strikeouts and 16 walks in 86 2/3 innings this season, and with one more win, he will have as many wins this year as he had from 2020-2023 combined.
Snitker attributed Sale’s success to starting the offseason healthy and entering spring training with a normal winter routine. Sale would not agree that he is free of health concerns.
“It can happen at any time. You’re never really out of the woods,” he said. “I’ve been through too much to sit here and say something like that. I know what this game could be like.”
“I just like to sit back and appreciate what I have right now, where I am and who I’m doing it with. I just have to focus every day and not try to go too far in this game.”
Sale was only allowed to play once in 2018, from late July to mid-September, due to shoulder inflammation, but then returned and helped the Red Sox win the World Series. The following March, he was rewarded with a contract that paid him an additional $145 million over five years through 2024.
He was unable to pitch after August 13, 2019 due to inflammation of his left elbow, missed the entire pandemic-shortened 2020 season after Tommy John surgery that kept him out of action until August 14, 2021, and was unable to pitch until July 2022 due to a stress fracture in a rib on his right side.
He returned for two starts and broke his left pinky when he was hit by a line drive from Yankees’ Aaron Hicks. And before Sale could return from that, he broke his right wrist in a bicycle accident.
Sale went 6-5 with a 4.30 ERA in 20 starts last year and was traded for young infielder Vaughn Grissom, who has a .148 batting average for the Red Sox this season. Atlanta then replaced Sale’s $27.5 million salary for 2024, which included $10 million deferred through 2039, with a two-year, $38 million contract.
“We saw the great Chris Sale there a lot early in his time with the Red Sox, and then of course the Chris Sale who had a lot of injuries and battled through them,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “He looked really good; the secondary is excellent. I thought he wasn’t the center of the plate. You can see he can throw both of his fastballs, he can reach back.”
Against the Yankees, Sale’s four-seam fastball averaged 96.4 mph, 1.7 mph higher than his season average. His sinker averaged 96.1 mph, an increase of 2.3 mph.
Aaron Judge and Juan Soto each struck out twice against Sale. Judge has 18 strikeouts against him in 30 career at-bats, while Soto has six in seven at-bats.
“He was hitting the ball where he wanted it to go, and the slider was big and moving,” Soto said. “I think that’s the best Chris Sale I’ve seen since I first played against him.”
The Braves’ rotation took a big hit early on, as right-hander Spencer Strider — who was expected to be the team’s mainstay after leading the majors with 20 wins and 286 strikeouts last season — started just twice before undergoing elbow surgery and will not play this season.
Sale now leads a rotation that includes fellow left-hander Max Fried (6-2) and right-handers Reynaldo López (5-2) and Charlie Morton (4-3).
The former Red Sox pitcher did not boast about his success against the Yankees.
“I have too much respect for the game and too much respect for the guys to say anything other than, ‘Hey, we fought and it just worked out in my favor,'” Sale said. “I’ve been on the other side of that too.”
